1. to recruit talented employees from other companies, especially for executive positions
Usage: business context
2. to practice headhunting by taking and preserving human heads as trophies
Usage: historical; anthropological

Examples

• The consulting firm headhunts top graduates from business schools.
• She headhunts executives for Fortune 500 companies.
• The recruiter headhunts software engineers with specialized skills.
• Our company was surprised when a competitor headhunts our best manager.
• The headhunting agency headhunts candidates worldwide.
• Historically, some tribes headhunts enemies as part of warfare rituals.